“I’ve been studying the Sahara for 30 years and can definitely say that it’s getting greener,” says desert geologist Stefan Kröpelin, who has studied geological data for the eastern Sahara going back 6,000 years.

Where there used to be nothing but desert, says Kröpelin, there is now not just grass but shrubs and acacia trees–and he has the photos from 30 years of extensive field study to prove it. “The nomads are taking their camels to graze in areas where they’ve never been able to graze before.” Satellite data showing more green on the southern edge of the Sahara also bear him out.

Kröpelin specializes in desert archaeology and climate history at the University of Cologne.

Hmmm. This doesn’t quite fit the popular “consensus,” does it?

The IPCC has been predicting a decline in rainfall across large swaths of Africa of 20 percent or more, leading to deadly famines, and yet the Sahara is getting greener.